We suggested that Wieden+Kennedy’s ‘Bud Light Party’ campaign for AB InBev with Amy Schumer and Seth Rogen was a high wire act and so it’s proved: agency (and client) have just fallen off it. Here’s the Super Bowl launch ad.

Now the campaign has been pulled with Bud Light apparently losing 0.65 per cent market share, which doesn’t sound very much but is when you think of the huge volume the brand still sells, despite its almost unparalleled awfulness.

Admittedly there’s only a week to go before the US election and the face-off between Trump and Clinton has been beyond comedy anyway (not least with the bizarre last minute intervention of the FBI) but presumably client and agency still had some rockets (make that damp squibs) to fire.

The truth is the campaign just wasn’t funny enough. And, as many people have remarked, just looked like rich Hollywood types trousering another fat cheque.

W+K still seems to be on the Bud Light case and let’s hope they get another chance.

But the moral of this one is: don’t hire a gaggle of celebs unless you’ve got something relevant to do with them. Otherwise your failure will just be that much more spectacular.

About Stephen Foster

Stephen is a former editor of Marketing Week and London Evening Standard advertising columnist. He wrote City Republic for Brand Republic and is a partner in communications consultancy The Editorial Partnership.